Smoke detector problems
- Freddy
- Member
- Posts: 7301
- Joined: Fri. Apr. 11, 2008 2:54 pm
- Location: Orrington, Maine
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Axeman Anderson 130 (pea)
- Coal Size/Type: Pea size, Superior, deep mined
We have 5 interconnected hard wired with battery back-up smoke detectors in the house. Two in the basement and three upstairs. 5 or 6 days ago I made some rice in the early morning. About an hour after I shut the stove off.... BEEP BEEP BEEP! All the alarms go off. Rather than try to pause them, I shed my hearing aids & checked for fire. Grab a flashlight from the top of the fridge.....Hand held to tops of doors.... not hot....open slowly... no smoke.... run to the next one. Each checked... no fire. Holding the button to "pause" didn't seem to work. I was about to waft air, but they stopped on their own. So.... what happened? Even though I have never had a false alarm other than WHILE something was cooking.... we attributed it to the rice & forgot about it. Two nights later, 2AM, beep beep beep! Crap.... I'm sure I would be dead. They say to roll out of bed to the floor. That's a tough thing to practice or to remember. I'm sure I woke up and stood right up in one motion. No worries..... more practice to come. So, check for heat, check for smoke, no fire. What the heck? I did hold the pause button & they silenced. Ohhh... stupid me.... I check the "Kind of important things" list. On the wall next to the washing machine is a paper held by two push pins. It lists dates of tetanus shots.... dog rabies shots, and, yes.... that the smoke detector batteries were replaced over a year ago. 2AM.... I replace 5 batteries. An hour and a half later.... yup.....Alarms again. I silence them and I do a quick Internet read & see it might be dust. I've never blown dust out of a detector in 25 years! So.... Grab a can of "Blow" and do each one. Three of the detectors are a year old, two are well over 10 years. I took the old ones out of service.
The next night.... 12:30AM.... yup.....another false.... I died again as I didn't roll to the floor. Arghhhh! Check for hot doors, check for smoke, we are safe. We now know it's a new one that's causing the problem. I blow them out to clean them again. The next day I bought two new ones.
That day I called the manufacturer (Kidde). I have one question: How do we know which one is bad? The answer is: When interconnected alarms go off, the one that starts them all is the one that's flashing a fast red light, all others will flash a slow red light.
At this point, no false alarms the last two nights. We must assume it was dust in one of them. We also can assume that if we ever have a fire in the bedroom, that I will die from smoke inhalation when I sit up as the alarm goes off.
The next night.... 12:30AM.... yup.....another false.... I died again as I didn't roll to the floor. Arghhhh! Check for hot doors, check for smoke, we are safe. We now know it's a new one that's causing the problem. I blow them out to clean them again. The next day I bought two new ones.
That day I called the manufacturer (Kidde). I have one question: How do we know which one is bad? The answer is: When interconnected alarms go off, the one that starts them all is the one that's flashing a fast red light, all others will flash a slow red light.
At this point, no false alarms the last two nights. We must assume it was dust in one of them. We also can assume that if we ever have a fire in the bedroom, that I will die from smoke inhalation when I sit up as the alarm goes off.
- D-frost
- Member
- Posts: 1186
- Joined: Sun. Dec. 08, 2013 7:10 am
- Location: Southern New Hampshire
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Harman MK ll
- Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Yukon Eagle I (multi-fuel oil, wood/coal)
- Baseburners & Antiques: Herald 'fireside oak'
- Coal Size/Type: nut/stove-Blaschak/Lehigh
This a 'Trifecta'....I better go buy a lottery ticket!!!!!!
My co2 went off in the basement yesterday, where the MK II is lit.........a Kidde, 110V, battery back-up......of course I was running the snowblower to get it in and out, but, that's normal procedure. Says, "vacuum once a month".......Ahh, it's been plugged in the basement for 5 years!!!! Vacuumed and blew out with an air can....just like new again!
Cheers
And the MK II is purring like a kitten.....love it!!!
My co2 went off in the basement yesterday, where the MK II is lit.........a Kidde, 110V, battery back-up......of course I was running the snowblower to get it in and out, but, that's normal procedure. Says, "vacuum once a month".......Ahh, it's been plugged in the basement for 5 years!!!! Vacuumed and blew out with an air can....just like new again!
Cheers
And the MK II is purring like a kitten.....love it!!!
- WNY
- Member
- Posts: 6307
- Joined: Mon. Nov. 14, 2005 8:40 am
- Location: Cuba, NY
- Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: Keystoker 90K, Leisure Line Hyfire I
- Coal Size/Type: Rice
- Contact:
Same here, a plug in/battery backup CO/Gas Detector. kept chirping, replaced battery, good for another couple weeks, then started chirping, of course at 2am .....check mfr. date. July 2012. Soo, time for new one. since they are only supposed to last 10 years. I have 3 other CO and 4 Smoke I need to check too.
- Keepaeyeonit
- Member
- Posts: 1681
- Joined: Wed. Mar. 24, 2010 7:18 pm
- Location: Northeast Ohio.( Grand river wine country )
- Baseburners & Antiques: Glenwood #8
- Coal Size/Type: Nut & stove
- Other Heating: 49 year old oil furnace, and finally a new heat pump
I have to clean my heat/smoke detector( the one on the monitored alarm system) every 2 years or it will set itself off, I disarm the system and disassemble the detector and clean it with air, you would not believe how dusty it gets in a few years.
-
- Member
- Posts: 6446
- Joined: Mon. Apr. 16, 2007 9:34 pm
- Location: Central Maine
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: DS Machine 1300 with hopper
- Coal Size/Type: Blaschak Anthracite Nut
- Other Heating: Oil hot water radiators (fuel oil); propane
We can assume that if I hear beeping at 2 AM, I will answer the telephone, find nobody there, and go back to sleep.
I removed the interconnected combination fire/CO alarms and replaced them with fire only. No way would I remember, in my groggy state, which beep pattern or light pattern means which hazard. My brother says his alarms will speak to him -- I suppose they say, "FIRE, RUN LIKE HELL" or "CARBON MONOXIDE -- OPEN THE WINDOWS AND HAVE A LEISURELY LOOK AROUND".
- freetown fred
- Member
- Posts: 30299
- Joined: Thu. Dec. 31, 2009 12:33 pm
- Location: Freetown,NY 13803
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: HITZER 50-93
- Coal Size/Type: BLASCHAK Nut
Freddy, I've never trusted hard wire/batt. back up jobs--I've got all KIDDE batt. units--my thinkin is if a fire ever starts it'll hit my breaker panel first I only have 2 fire & 3 CO units all batt. operated. Just a goofy old farmers thoughts--PS I know it's tough but even an old fool like me can keep track of battery install dates!! LOL
- Freddy
- Member
- Posts: 7301
- Joined: Fri. Apr. 11, 2008 2:54 pm
- Location: Orrington, Maine
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Axeman Anderson 130 (pea)
- Coal Size/Type: Pea size, Superior, deep mined
I DO keep track of dates....I'm just not smart enough to read my own notes! Ha!freetown fred wrote: even an old fool like me can keep track of battery install dates!! LOL
My interconnected are fire only. I do have two separate CO detectors. I have no coal burning in the house, but I do have propane cook stove and clothes dryer. The Axeman is in the garage.... piped the heat underground.
Let's see if we can go another night without a false.
- freetown fred
- Member
- Posts: 30299
- Joined: Thu. Dec. 31, 2009 12:33 pm
- Location: Freetown,NY 13803
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: HITZER 50-93
- Coal Size/Type: BLASCHAK Nut
Here's hopin ya do!!
-
- Member
- Posts: 6446
- Joined: Mon. Apr. 16, 2007 9:34 pm
- Location: Central Maine
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: DS Machine 1300 with hopper
- Coal Size/Type: Blaschak Anthracite Nut
- Other Heating: Oil hot water radiators (fuel oil); propane
I agree. Keep it simple. We only have hard-wired / interconnected units because we had a room gutted and rebuilt upstairs, and codes required the electrician to install them in the gutted room AND in the adjacent hallway.freetown fred wrote: ↑Sat. Jan. 08, 2022 7:59 pmI only have 2 fire & 3 CO units all batt. operated.
- McGiever
- Member
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- Joined: Sun. May. 02, 2010 11:26 pm
- Location: Junction of PA-OH-WV
- Stoker Coal Boiler: AXEMAN-ANDERSON 130 "1959"
- Hand Fed Coal Boiler: BUCKET A DAY water heater
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Warm Morning 414A
- Coal Size/Type: PEA,NUT,STOVE /ANTHRACITE
- Other Heating: Ground Source Heat Pump and some Solar
Someone mentioned some while back that it was best to not have all the 10 year battery life units expire at the same time so to replace them at rolling intervals to keep them spread out.